💬 Our usual biryani place changed cooks and now it's just spicy, nothing else

For 8 years our family order on Friday was from the same place near Mehdipatnam. Never had a bad plate. Then in July the old cook left. Nobody told us. We just noticed the first bite felt like a slap. Spicy, very spicy, and under all that heat, nothing. No smell of the rice, no taste of the meat. My father put his spoon down after 3 bites. He's 72 and has eaten biryani 4 times a week his whole life. The thing is, the old one was spicy too. You felt it. But it came after the flavour, not instead of it. The rice tasted like rice, the mutton tasted like mutton, and then the heat came in at the end and stayed. The new cook seems to think more chilli means more taste. It doesn't. It just covers everything up. Other places go the other way. So mild it's like eating pulao with a bit of masala on top. I asked the owner about it. He said customers wanted it spicier, the young crowd. Maybe true, maybe not. We've been trying new places every Friday since. 7 places so far. 1 came close, near Attapur, but the rice was soggy. My father has now started saying he'll make it himself. He has never cooked anything in his life. My mother just laughs at him and hands over the next menu. So where are you all getting it right these days? Spicy is fine, I just want to taste the rice. Not looking for the famous names. They're all crowded and half of them have gone downhill too. The small places, the ones your family has ordered from for years. Those are the ones I want. Friday is in 2 days and my father is already asking.

Spicy with nothing underneath is exactly how a bad biryani feels, and the first bite like a slap is a clear description. Our favourite place in Tolichowki changed owners 2 years ago and the biryani lost its smell of rice.

I think the mild places get more complaints than the too spicy ones, at least among people I know, because at least spicy has some flavor to point to.